The Lonely Appendix

Friday, May 14, 2010

So I think I am just now using my blog post to basically talk about nothing. I believe that everyone has a right to one of these some time in their life, because at one point you will not know what to talk about about, so you will talk about nothing. I may need another though, if I am already using my quota so early in my life. The interesting things about these blogs is that you end up talking about something anyways. You may not even realize it until mid way through, but you always have to talk about something. There honestly inst a thing such as nothing. Even if you think you are talking about nothing, like right now, I am actually talking about talking about nothing. I just kind of was drawing a blank and decided that nothing was a good topic, but it morphed into something. I didnt really mean for it to do this, or even to talk about this i just kind of got going and kept it going. I am not even sure when this blog post is going to end, or if it will ever have a true ending. Maybe it could end like all those books people like until the end because while technically they have an end, they dont give any true closure to the story being told. I believe these are what we talk cliff hangers. A name that actually makes some sense in the english language, although we are not actually hanging off or a cliff. I like writing these kinds blogs because they allow my mind to wonder, and ponder and be able to write what kind of comes to my mind. Although my mind kind of feels empty inside and not full of much thought. This is kind of why I had a hard time trying a figure out a topic to blog about in the first place. When this seems to be a pretty good stopping point, and I wont leave you hanging and I will now tell you that this is the end to the blog and my blog post about random thoughts of nothing.

A NBA playoffs are here and among us, and they have been for the past few weeks. Some of us care and some of us dont. Either way it was pretty difficult to miss all the drama behind the Cavs vs Celtics match up. While this is kind of old news the whole thing was built up to be great and I guess was in a way. The whole match up was suppose to be about LeBron James, also known as King James, and if he would be able to bring the Cavs all the way this year. Like I said before this is kind of old news, so the Cavs did lose. James was not able to do it. It isnt so much that the Cavs lost, because the Celtics are a pretty good team, but it was more or less the effort put forth by the Cavs, and in-particularly James.

I have listened to many different radio broadcast about the match up before and after since I wake up to this sort of thing in the morning. Anyways after Rondo totally dominated and James scored just 15 points in the game there was some room for discussion. Is James not putting forth all his effort? Is he cracking under the pressure? Is he just simply getting beat on defense? All these kind of questions popped up. By the way Rondo and the Celtics did just play really good basketball, but I still kind of see it, being the loss of the series, blamed some on the lack of domination by James. I mean this is the player that is suppose to be consider one of the best, if not the best, and he cant even score his average points per game in a playoff game at home. Maybe the Celtics defense was just that good, but why is James never really totally taken out of a game until now?

There are may questions that are still and never will be answered. There is one though that will be answered, but only in time. This is: what is going to happen to James's future? His contract with the Cavs ended this year. Now will he try to move onto a different team, or will he stick with the Cavs, since he have been with them since day one? This is what makes this whole situation even more dramatic. So many questions just waiting to be answered. Now all we can do is wait, and see it James will be able to keep the nickname, King James.

Here comes one of the final steps to the main goal of the entire Sharks season. They have made it past two teams so far to make it to the Western Conference Championship. The Stanley Cup is in the distance, but still in a manageable grasp. One of their final hurtles though is, the Chicago Blackhawks.

This team is the number two ranked team in the western conference, only behind the Sharks. The Sharks were able to beat the Red Wings, which in past years have their main trouble in the playoffs. Now they have one of the most difficult teams in the entire league to get past. If they are able the make it they are for sure to have a slightly easier team. This is one strange this about the entire playoffs this year. In the western conference the number one and two are battling it out, but in the eastern conference the number seven and eight are dueling. Obviously the seven and eight are playing good hockey right now, but they would have to be considered somewhat under dogs in the actually championship game since they are just so much of a smaller seed. It is just weird how the two conferences ended up just being complete opposites.

The Sharks do have their hands full, and while I could just sit back and write this blog full of crap and false opinion, I honestly think if the Sharks are going to lose to a team it would be the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks have a really good fan support. They also had a wonderful reason season and are ready to win the Stanley Cup. Overall they are a pretty good team. In this match up the Sharks pretty much just need to show who is boss. The first game is an important one because it shows some confidence and power behind the team. The Sharks need to come out strong and never release the gas peddle. They need to gain a confidence level where they know how good they really are. So well the new challenge and end this war between the Sharks and the Blackhawks, and Hope that the Sharks come out on top.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

So the AP exams rush had begun. This Monday it kicked off with the AP US Government exam. Personally my first exam this year is tomorrow. I am taking the AP US History exam. Then the one for this class I am taking the AP Language and Composition exam.

Now who even thought up just a thing. A three hour test that usually consists of a long multiple choice test and a few essays to go along. I took the AP Biology exam last year. That was my first one, and now I kind of know how they work out. they are really long, you miss class, and by the end of them you are tried and you either feel really good or not good at all. They are somewhat never racking too. You know whatever you get is over what you learned over the course of an entire year. Also whatever you get is on your permanent record and there is no going back and taking it again. One and you are done.

So why do so many people take them if them make your hand sore after writing for a two hours and you dont even find out your score until the middle of the summer. Simple they are heavily pushed in high school because they make the school look better. Even if you dont like to admit it, it is true. The school probably gets more credit then you get, literally. The reason why student take the exams if the false expectation that they will get college credit. The will dish out as many test as possible because that is what they care about, a bit about the actual scores themselves. If you dont get a 4 or a 5 you do not have a very good chance at getting credit in college. Then even if you do get a 4 or a 5 the college still gets to decide if they are going to accept this kind of credit and if so for how much.

So I actually am writing this after the AP US exam, but I started it before in case you were wondering. No I will not release, any at all, information about the exam. If you want to know you should take it for yourself. I will say that I real like I did pretty well on it, which is good because then I will hopefully get a 4 or a 5. My next battle is the AP Lang. exam. Out of the two this is the one that I need to do well on. So good luck to all of you that are spending your time in a large area with a hundred other people and burning your hand writing, hope you score well.

The division in the AL Central was closing the gap between the Twins and Tigers, the Twins decided to show the Tigers the back door. The Tigers were winning and the Twins loosing, and the difference in the records was the slimmest of margins, by half a game. The next three game could decide the early switch for the division lead. The next three games would be played in Target Field. The next three games might be a clue in to a close division race winning team towards the end in the season.

Even without Mauer the Twins won. All the games were very close, but a win is a win and a loss is a loss. The Twins have been able to do just enough to win their games. I believe they won all three games over the Tigers by just one or two runs. These wins gave them a larger lead int he division and more confidence when playing them. These are probably the two teams that will be fighting for the division this year, so ever game that the Twins can take away from the Tigers is crucial.

I do hope that Mauer's shin or leg gets better because he is a vital part of the Twins team, both in the field and in the batters box. he is one of the best batters, as far as getting hits, in the league. Also his batting average is one of the best in the league. So I really hope he gets better, because the Twins could really use his bat in the lineup and behind the plate.

So I am now pretty pissed. I pressed enter on the keyboard while I was just finishing this blog when it deleted the 600 word post. I have no clue why is did that, but now that makes me mad because now I have to retype everything I just typed up.

The Sharks have to play the Red Wings in a game five because they just lost really bad in game 4. The score was 7 to 1. It sounded more like a baseball game or something. Well the Sharks need to win the game 5 and not allow the Red Wings back into the series. Even though it does not happen many times that a team gets down 3-0 in the best of 7 series and come back and win, it is still possible; with the luck that the Sharks have it may very well happen to them too. The last time i remember this happening was in baseball. It was the playoffs and the Boston Red Sox and the Yankees were playing. The Yankees were ahead in the series 3-0, and the Red Sox's season looked like it was on game away from coming to an end. But the Red Sox decided to come back and send the Yankees crying home. This was also the series with Curt Schillings bloody ankle, I believe. It was fun to watch, but i do not want the same thing to happen to the Sharks. They need to win game 5 for many reasons, and here are a couple of them.

First they need to win because with their luck the Red Wings will come back and win the entire thing. They do not need to leave much of an opening for the Red Wings. The Sharks need to close it out and just move onto the next round. They need a change of luck and need to defeat their arch rival of the playoffs. They just straight up need to WIN!

Secondly the Sharks need to win because the sooner they win the longer of a break they get. The other teams series are going longer, so if they just win they will have a longer amount of time to refuel, practice, and prepare for the next team because the other team will still be playing in their previous match. This is always a slight advantage because the Sharks players will be more rested and ready to play than the other players on the opposing team that just got done winning and now have to play again in a day or two.

Well I actually waited to post this blog post until after the results of game 5, that way I could quick mention that either the Sharks did actually win, or they lost. Well....... they did win. The beat the Red Wings, long time rivals in the playoffs. The Sharks won the series 4 to 1, and game five 2 to 1. Not to bad for shutting down the Red Wings in their own house. Now Sharks will have all the advantage in the next series.

Here is a video not much related to hockey, but just to show the domination that the Sharks had over the Red Wings. In this video the shark represent obviously represent the Sharks, and the little seal represents the Red Wings. So here it is. Total Domination.Total domination. By the way this is about the spot that I hit enter and there entire blog post went into cyberspace. Really annoying, but I got it back down and this is about the end, right about now!

Saturday, May 1, 2010

So the other night I went out to a movie with my family, and then went out to eat. We decided that IHOP sounded pretty good. If you dont know IHOP means, International House of Pancakes. We walked in and got our seat in the back corner. The waitress came up and asked us what we wanted to drink. We all said that water was fine, and began to look through the menu. Well I decided I was really pretty hungry and decided to get the Big Steak Omelet. I got it because if you have ever gotten an omelet at IHOP they are really big and you get three pancakes with it. So I decided to order that and waited until our food. We chatted and our food came to the table. My brother got his eggs, smokehouse sausages, and bacon, my Mom got a steak thing with eggs and bacon, and I got my omelet. I was sooo hungry I just started to eat. I was eating and noticed a mushroom fell out, and I remember thinking that was really the only part of the omelet I didnt really like when I ordered. I continued to eat the omelet and noticed it had bacon on top, and found that kind of strange but it tasted really good so I continued. Then about two minutes later and a few bites into my omelet, a big guy comes over with another omelet. He asked me if I ordered a bid steak omelet, I was king of confused but then it made sense. The waitress had accidentally grabbed the wrong omelet. So now I had two very large omelets and some pancakes. Right then it reminded me of a show on television called Man vs. Food. Good show by the way. Well the waitress comes over and says she is sorry, but it isnt a big deal to me. I just start eating. Prior to knowing this was going to happen I was actually considering ordering more pancakes just because I was so hungry but decided against it. I am glad I made the right decision. I down the first omelet in no time. I started the second. The Big Steak Omelet has the word big in it for a reason, because it was much larger than the last. I started to eat it and just needed to have something else. Time to eat the pancakes. The pancakes were absolutely delicious and gone in no time. By now I could begin to feel the food settling in. I still had half an omelet left. The waitress said she bet I could only eat one and a half, so I had to continue. By now I had people peering around the corner watching me eat this great deal amount of food. Finally bite by bite until the last bite was devoured. We paid and stood up to leave. The skinny kid stood up and was congratulated by the manager and waitress. I skipped out the door as we headed on our way back home.

Sharks finally made it past the first round after having to play the seventh game. Win they move on, lose their season is over. This year might finally be the year that they go all the way. With many good players on the team, they have a lot of leadership and drive to get to the end. A lot of the same players have been with the team in the past couple years and they realize what it is going to take to get there. They have lost it many times in the past few years even while being a number 1 or 2 seed. This year is looking better now than ever because the number 1 seed in the Eastern conference lost to the number 8 seed. That means that hypothetically the best team in the other conference is out, letting a easier team from the conference into the championship game.

But there has been one stumbling block for the Sharks in the past years; both in the regular season and playoffs. It is almost king of the weakness, their Achilles heel. This would be the Red Wings. The Red Wings are probably the most known hockey team even if you dont follow along too much. They are known for the success and historically famous players. Now the Sharks are faced against them again. The wall to climb over to get to the Western conference game. I really dont know why the Sharks have so much trouble with the Red Wings. They are just another team, but they just seem to have the Sharks number.

They have already played one game in the series and the Sharks managed to close it out with a victory. It was a lot closer than you might have expected though. In the first 2 minutes the Sharks went out and scored 3 goals. You might be thinking well how come it was so close. Well after that the Red wings really buckled down and didnt allow another goal to pass until much later in the game. Meanwhile on the Red Wings offense they began to slowly make a come back. I dont know if it was ever tied at three all, but the Sharks mustard together one more goal, so they won 4 to 3. This is a good example of what i was talking about though. The Sharks had complete control in the first period, but for some reason or another almost lost it in the end. Now on sunday they play game 2 of the best of 7 series. The Sharks would be smart to win it because they may just need it, and they dont want to give the Red Wings a chance at winning this because if they do the result may not look so pretty for the Sharks.

The Mavericks just got booted out of the NBA playoffs in the first round by their division rivals, Spurs. The Spurs won the series of best of 7; 4 to 2. For some reason I am not really sure why the Mavs lost. They did lose a lot of the close games when the margin was less then 5. Also they got into some foul trouble during some games. Finally I think that the Mavs lost the series because when they were on they were on and when they were off they were off. The two games they did win they won by a reasonable amount of points. Then once they got into the close games they were not able to ever quite get ahead and win it. They managed to win a lot of the close games in the regular season, but this couldnt be accomplished during the playoffs.

One thing that I believe kind of hurts the Mavs is that they did lose to they division rival. It would suck to lose to the team you really dont like very much. It is like that kid that you really cant stand and he does better that you at something you thought you were better at. This is kind of what happened here to the Mavs. They were the number 2 seed in the Western division and they lost in the first round to the 7 seed. It is not like it is bad to lose, but when you are kind of are expected to win and you really think you have a pretty good chance at winning, it does suck to lose then. Also i heard that Dirk, the Mavs best player, is open to free agency. He said that he is keeping an open mind and not trying the decide on anything until there might be some offers. It would kind of stink if Dirk left Dallas. I really dont know if I would still be a Mavs fan. He is pretty much he reason for me getting interested in the Mavs. Now if the 7 foot German leaves who has such an awesome fade away shot leaves, my fanship may leave too. I do not know were Dirk would go, or which team would offer what kind of offer. I dont if Dallas would pay the most to keep him in Dallas. I am not exactly sure how old Dirk is, but he probablt still has at least five more good years in him. He is kind of a special kind of player. Because he is 7 feet tall he can grab rebounds and play down around the rim. Not only can he do this, like most people his size do, but he can also shoot a pretty good jump shot and even hit fromt he three point line. This type of player is pretty rare. So all in all the Mavs may have seen some of their best chances leave them as they got spurred on their way out. Here is a video of some of the best shots by Dirk from 2007 to 2009.

Friday, April 23, 2010

The Mavericks seem to be on their heels lately in the last two games in the NBA Playoffs. They lost last night to the San Antonio Spurs 94 to 90. A close game, but they still lost. One thing that the Dallas team is slightly upset with is the officiating. Like other sports this is often a common excuse if the losing team loses in a close game. It happens in basketball, football, baseball, etc. Sometimes this really is the case, and sometimes in a really close game the officiating really does need to be right on and less about opinion. For an example which still lingers in some Vikings fans head were the last couple calls in the overtime loss to the Saints in the NFC Championship game. The pass interference call moved the ball down the field which would eventually put the Saints in position to kick the game winning field goal. Now I am not saying that the result would have been different if the call would have been correct be not making the call, but it very well could have. Well here in this example the Mavs are saying that they are getting called for way too much. One player, which was making the complaints had more fouls than points and rebounds combined in Game 3. While Tim Duncan of the Spurs had twice as much playing time and only two fouls. The player wasnt even just talking about him, but also other team mates which were getting unfair calls on them. Sometimes the complaints are semi legitimate and others just out there to complain, but in this case I would have to side with the Mavs. Make it up in Game 4.